Maybe confusing (maybe not) AP upgrade questions

[pippin_]

Hi all!

I've lurked here a long time but only just now decided that I had questions too aggravating to try to search for. It's been like pulling teeth to find this info, so I'm sorry if it's right in front of my face.

We're looking at going to DL this October with three-day park hoppers. I'm likely going to get them from LMTClub to save us a little bit of extra money (rather than going straight through Disney). There are a few minor issues here that I'd like to get answers to so that I know how best to proceed.

I've read in several places that you have to have an admission left on a ticket in order to upgrade it. Easy! We could just head to the appropriate spot and upgrade on our second day. However, we'd be best-served by using our MM on our third day since we'd be leaving the park a little early to catch a flight. Would we lose that MM because of the upgrade? It wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it would be a huge bummer. We could just use it on one of the first two days.

I was also wondering whether you actually can upgrade tickets not purchased directly through Disney (can they tell? I know I sound silly-- I'm sorry!); and, if you can, do they credit a) the amount of money you really paid b) the Disney-value of the tickets or c) nothing? I've found some conflicting information on this and while this won't sway us on whether or not to upgrade, it will change how much money we have to have in certain places at certain times. I'd also appreciate if anyone can tell me whether you can set up one of the monthly payment plans in person or if you have to sign up online to do that.

Thank you to anybody who takes the time to answer! This probably sounds really daft to everyone who knows what they're doing, but we've never even considered APs before now.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Hi all!

I've lurked here a long time but only just now decided that I had questions too aggravating to try to search for. It's been like pulling teeth to find this info, so I'm sorry if it's right in front of my face.

We're looking at going to DL this October with three-day park hoppers. I'm likely going to get them from LMTClub to save us a little bit of extra money (rather than going straight through Disney). There are a few minor issues here that I'd like to get answers to so that I know how best to proceed.

I've read in several places that you have to have an admission left on a ticket in order to upgrade it. Easy! We could just head to the appropriate spot and upgrade on our second day. However, we'd be best-served by using our MM on our third day since we'd be leaving the park a little early to catch a flight. Would we lose that MM because of the upgrade? It wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it would be a huge bummer. We could just use it on one of the first two days.

I was also wondering whether you actually can upgrade tickets not purchased directly through Disney (can they tell? I know I sound silly-- I'm sorry!); and, if you can, do they credit a) the amount of money you really paid b) the Disney-value of the tickets or c) nothing? I've found some conflicting information on this and while this won't sway us on whether or not to upgrade, it will change how much money we have to have in certain places at certain times. I'd also appreciate if anyone can tell me whether you can set up one of the monthly payment plans in person or if you have to sign up online to do that.

Thank you to anybody who takes the time to answer! This probably sounds really daft to everyone who knows what they're doing, but we've never even considered APs before now.

Your ticket can't be expired to upgrade it but it doesn't need to be done before the last day. You would lose you MM if you upgraded on Day 2 so at some point before the ticket windows close on Day 3 (one window will always be open until slightly after park closing but I'd go at lunch or before/after your afternoon break if applicable) do the upgrade.

The answer to your last question is it depends. Theoretically Disneyland doesn't price bridge so you should get credit for what you paid for the tickets. However in reality they sometimes price bridge and you get full value for the tickets as if you'd purchased them directly through Disney that morning (I did on my upgrade from a 5 Day to my AP last year) but it's not the norm or their stated policy. You always get some credit for the tickets unless they are super heavily discounted tickets like the kids sold to some conventions or similar.

HTH

 

[ParkHopper1]

Just to clarify a bit further, the ticket must be upgraded before the end of the last day of use on the ticket. So as mentioned on a three day ticket you would just need to upgrade before the ticket windows close on your third day and you could use your MM on day three no problem.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I want to add to this that if you didn't upgrade on your 3rd day after using your MM, it's important to know when/if Disneyland has MM on your first two days.

MM is only good at Disneyland, not at California Adventure (DCA). And currently it's almost always T,Th & Sat. The only way to get early entry to DCA is by staying onsite.

 

[starshine514]

Agree - just upgrade before the end of your third day.

In my experience, Disney gives you the price of the undiscounted ticket to use towards the upgrade. That may be the gate price, or it (if there has been a price increase since purchase) what the gate price would have been for the ticket when it was purchased (that is, when the reseller purchased it from Disney - not necessarily when you purchased it from the reseller).

For example, prices went up a couple of weeks ago. If you were to purchase a discounted ticket that the reseller had in stock from prior to the price increase, then you would only be credited the pre-increase price (but you would still get to keep your discount off of that price).

Also, I'm not sure if you can upgrade tickets and do the monthly payment plan. (I don't live in California, so I don't have experience with this.) Hopefully, someone else will chime in on that.

 

[SMD]

Also, I'm not sure if you can upgrade tickets and do the monthly payment plan. (I don't live in California, so I don't have experience with this.) Hopefully, someone else will chime in on that.

Yes, as long as the upgrade value of the ticket is enough to cover the initial deposit for new APs, which a multiday ticket would be.

 

[pippin_]

Thanks so much to everyone who helped! This definitely makes the path for decision-making a lot clearer. An especially big thanks to everyone who set me straight on being able to start the third day-- I totally misunderstood what I'd read before about when you can and can't upgrade anymore. I also appreciated the MM days info; I had thought of that, but I'm sure that a lot of people don't, so it was great info to have.

 

[cp11]

I would doublecheck the upgrading of the ticket if purchased at a discount. I know that I could not buy the discounted tickets through GetTravel and upgrade it to an AP. I had to buy my three-day parkhopper ticket through Disneyland.com, then upgraded while there on the last day of my parkhopper. I actually called GetTravel and they verified I could not. I'm not saying this might be true for all, I would just doublecheck before I purchased if you are looking to upgrade to an AP.

 

[Winnowill]

We got our discounted tickets last year through ticketsatwork.com, and received full gate price when we upgrade to APs later, but I know that's not official policy.

 

[Delilah Bleu]

Last September I upgraded my 3 day park hopper ticket that I purchased from LMTC to a Deluxe pass. I was able to upgrade and use the monthly payment plan (I live in CA).

 

[cp11]

Sounds like they would be buying through LMT, so sounds like they would be good. Just didn't want them in my position, if it could not be done. I like to double and triple check things. Type-A here.

 

[frisbeego]

Thanks for asking these questions, as I'm considering doing the same thing.

Obviously, you can't get the AP discount without the AP. But what about free photopass? If you got the Signature AP, could you get the free downloads from the day or two before you upgraded?

 

[Winnowill]

Thanks for asking these questions, as I'm considering doing the same thing.

Obviously, you can't get the AP discount without the AP. But what about free photopass? If you got the Signature AP, could you get the free downloads from the day or two before you upgraded?

Yes. Because they date your AP upgrade from the first day of ticket use. When we upgraded (on day 5), we had all of our PP pix from the previous four days as well.

 

[SMD]

I've heard from people who renewed their AP to a higher level that they got previous photos from their prior year's AP. You can register your ride photos in the app in case they get unlocked when you upgrade.

 

[cp11]

I've heard from people who renewed their AP to a higher level that they got previous photos from their prior year's AP. You can register your ride photos in the app in case they get unlocked when you upgrade.

Oh, my gosh. I hope that is true. I have pics on my AP the last two visits and will be upgrading my AP in May when we go. It would be wonderful if I could get all my pics from those trips.